In addition to claiming more than 800,000 American lives, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused “massive economic disruptions in the public and private sector,” which bolsters the case for requiring most employees of federal contractors to be vaccinated, U.S. government attorneys said in a brief filed with the Eleventh U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
The Government Accountability Office has reported “a single federal agency, the Department of Energy, spent over $550 million reimbursing contractors for COVID-19-related paid leave,” during the first six months of the pandemic, according to the Jan. 18 brief filed by federal government lawyers.
The U.S. government is asking the federal appeals court to undo a national temporary injunction enacted Dec. 7 against the vaccine mandate by a U.S. District judge in the Southern District of Georgia. The federal contractor mandate stems from a September executive order by President Joe Biden. A federal task force drafted guidance on the order saying all covered contractor employees not qualifying for medical or religious exemptions should take the vaccine in order to keep their jobs.
The U.S. government promptly appealed the district judge’s ruling to the 11th circuit, which has called for oral arguments the week of April 5. All briefs are due by the end of February.
The federal attorneys argue in the 69-page brief that President Biden has the authority to require contractor vaccinations under the Procurement Act. “Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson each issued orders forbidding contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin,” under the Procurement Act, according to the filing.
The feds also contend that U.S. District Court Judge Stan Baker “independently erred in enjoining the Executive Order on a universal basis, covering countless contractors who are not parties to this case.”
